A Lab On Fire - My Own Private Teahupo'o

A Lab On Fire -What We Do In Paris Is Secret - EdP

A sense of mystery swirls around Carlos Kusubayashi, a citizen of the world who was born in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, grew up in Japan, and now lives near the Texas town of Marfa. In 2011, Carlos, then known as Carlos L'Anonyme, launched an experimental perfume called OP-1475-A, the first scent to be issued by the quixotic, artistic house of A Lab on Fire. A simple but refined fragrance, it marked the beginning of a period of intense exploration.

In the summer of 2012, in collaboration with perfumers Dominique Ropion and Thierry Wasser, two more fragrances were launched, by the names of What We Do In Paris Is Secret and Sweet Dreams 2003, both displaying the artistic freedom Carlos likes to give his perfumers. On a personal note, Carlos was so inspired by the nomadic, searching spirit of pioneering artists like Donald Judd that he moved to a small town in the vast desert of West Texas. From there, he continued his collaboration with world-class perfumers and issued 7 more refined, modern fragrances.

Passionate about Hawaii, Carlos decided that his next fragrance would be centered on a Hawaiian theme. Laurent Le Guernec was engaged to be the perfumer for My Own Private Teahupo'o, a perfume that's all about the contrast between the gentleness of nature and the exciting violence of nature. Teahupo'o is a village on the southwestern coast of the island of Tahiti, famous for its powerful waves that break over a treacherous, flat reef. This body of water, with its rough but exciting currents, stretches between Antarctica and Tahiti.

My Own Private Teahupo'o is a tribute to the heavy, dangerous swells of water that crest and crash on this sea, reflected in its salty vanilla heart, its tough, rocky amber, and the breeze of metallic ozone that cuts through everything. The scent opens with an invigorating note of sea salt that crackles roughly on the skin. This is followed by a gentle spray of creamy island flowers, the peachy sweetness of fresh frangipani blossoms brushed with the wintergreen freshness of salicylates. Creamy but fresh, the flowers are lifted by the briny freshness of ozone. The drydown is amber resin in its driest, most powerful form - leathery, tough, and expansive. A touch of vanilla softens the amber to a more civilized murmur but the ending is undeniably exciting and rugged.